HIPPA Violations

HIPAA is the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996. The primary goal of the law is to make it easier for people to keep health insurance, protect the confidentiality and security of healthcare information and help the healthcare industry control administrative costs. Under HIPAA, patients have the right to access and control their health records. In order to safeguard protected health information (PHI, or patients’ individually identifiable information), health care providers must restrict access to the information and have patients’ permission to disclose it.

We human beings have been gathering data since the dawn of mankind, whether it was in the form of pictures drawn on stones or in the form some text typed and saved on your computer.

The Medical Record Management System your office implements is only as good as the ease of

Inspect and manage medical records to insure that the correct information is being used for the right patient.

The time the physician does not need authorization is if he is referring the patient to another physician and is discussing the case.

Step 2 - Insurance verification- After Patient gives you the pre-registration information that is needed. You then can confirm patients insurance information for the benefits and deductibles that are due at time of visit.

Did you know that violating HIPAA can lead to criminal charges and even possible jail time? Also can cost you up to $1.5 million a year depending on the violation (Brown,2014). Violating HIPAA can be something as little as talking about the treatment of your patient that day to another nurse in the elevator. In this paper HIPAA will be defined and the importance of HIPAA in the health care system. As well as outcomes of what will happen if laws are violated. In addition, the scenario ending and what should happen to the nurse. Lastly, the advantages and disadvantages of cellphones and electronic devices in healthcare.

From the beginning when HIPAA got started it saved people and their privacy encouraging the best standard of care and trust between a patient and physician.

The law that prohibits unauthorized access of patients charts is HIPAA. HIPPA is the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996. HIPPAS number 1 priority is to keep patients Health Medical Records protected and confidential.

When the referral is received from a physician outside the healthcare provider’s network, paper medical records relating to the health issue are requested, including office notes and test results. After the patient’s paper medical records are received by the scheduling office, the scheduler manually reviews the records for the diagnosis and reason for the referral to determine how to appropriately schedule the office visit. For example, if the patient recently suffered a stroke, the patient would be scheduled with a stroke specialist rather than a general neurologist.

What the HIPAA law states. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) is a law that was enacted in 1996 establishing safeguards and rules to protect patients demographics and medical records. These rules limit the circumstances of how health records are used or obtained without the patient's authorization. HIPAA has set national standards that require these safeguards to maintain the attainability of health records and keeping them classified. This rule applies to any institutional and noninstitutional providers and only a written authorization by the patient will allow any use of their health records be disclosed.

I would tell patients who inquire about passed patients would be that "I will find out where they are or what has happen to them" and will get with back with them. It is important for me not to release too much information because of HIPAA rules. Releasing personal or medial information without a written consent can get me in big trouble. If I know its a close friend I will ask the family if its ok for me to tell the patient who ask about their relative's condition or whereabouts. Its always better to ask for permission to release information that way your not breaking any privacy rules.

When the referring PCP or specialist office faxes the patient’s medical records, one patient’s paper medical records can unintentionally become attached to another patient’s medical records, which is an example of a HIPAA violation of unwilling negligence (Iron Mountain, 2015). This can occur when several patients are referred to a specialist at the same time, and medical records for all patients are received through one fax transmission, requiring careful examination and separation of health records. To prevent paper medical records of one patient inadvertently becoming attached to the medical records of another patient when received by fax, all pages of the health record must be reviewed upon receipt and checked for the patient’s identification

As of September 29, 2017, it has come to my attention that there have been a few issues within the clinic. The following has been resolved and prioritized in order.

Failure to follow the guidelines of HIPAA will result in termination of employment along with civil and criminal penalties. A tiered structure created for HIPAA violations. First tier for the act of unknowingly or with reasonable cause can have a fine for each violation of $100 to $50,000 and potential jail time up to one year. Second tier states they had reasonable cause but no willful neglect and a fine of $1,000 up to $50,000 for each violation. Third tier the violation was a willful act but corrected in a within a required time period with a $10,000 to $50,000 fine. Both second and third tier have potent jail time up to five years. The fourth tier violation was for personal gain and malicious